


Sun and Shade

by entanglednow



Category: Harper's Island
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-24
Updated: 2011-08-24
Packaged: 2017-10-24 01:56:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/257585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/entanglednow/pseuds/entanglednow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The picnic was Cal's idea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sun and Shade

The picnic was Cal's idea. He's always been traditional, big romantic gestures, and Chloe isn't going to pretend she doesn't like that.

She'd laughed, surprised and happy, and he'd encouraged her laughter, pulling things from the basket, and presenting them all to her for approval. Strawberries, champagne, chocolate cake. She'd eaten while smiling, dropped a strawberry in her champagne, and another down Cal's shirt, though the second hadn't been an accident. He hadn't said a word about the trail of red juice, or the champagne fingerprints. He'd just kissed her, and fed her strawberries, until she laughed and couldn't eat any more.

Cal had occasionally stopped smiling long enough to eat.

He'd fallen asleep on the blanket, after eating the last piece of cake. Chloe had insisted, the chocolate had been melting, and Cal had looked so bewildered, trying to find a civilised way of licking it off his fingers. Which he'd failed to manage - but she'd helped in the end, so it hadn't really been a failure.

He'd accused her of being a temptress, which was true, but he'd made it sound like it wasn't a bad thing. That it could never, ever be bad.

Cal's hair has slipped sideways, shirt collar crooked. But he still looks like a prince, and Chloe still gets a thrill out of the idea that she's the one who gets to wake him. That if she kissed him it would be her face he'd see - and he'd smile at her. The way he always smiles at her, like he's amazed she's real.

One of his arms has slipped off his stomach, and his elbow is trying to crush a row of yellow flowers. Half of them are already bent under the sleeve of his jacket. Chloe picks one of the survivors, sniffs it to see if it smells, but there's just the scent of pollen and greenery. She very carefully slides the flower behind Cal's ear, a sweep of hair curving up out of the way. And if she's being honest she thinks it gives him just the faintest hint of otherworldliness. He's a beautiful, fairy prince, which he'd probably be insulted by. But that's not the way she means it at all. She wants to keep touching him, to run her fingers through his hair and over his face. She settles for tracing the curve of his cheek.

His skin is warm against her fingers, from the sun, and she can't resist smiling. He's probably going to burn. He never needs to be out in the heat long. She's pretty sure he didn't think to bring sunscreen. Because he always forgets to think about himself. He would have brought sunscreen for her. He'll be red later, and she'll have to put lotion on him, while he makes confused faces, and guilty noises. He'll feel like he ruined their day out. Because everything always has to be perfect. He plans so hard to get everything _just right_. To make everything special. Chloe's told him so many times, she doesn't expect perfect.

There's no such thing as perfect, not really. Though no one has ever tried to give it to her before. No one has ever tried so hard to make her feel special, to make her believe that she's special.

She leans over the empty plates, pushes the picnic basket out of the way, and balances on one arm. She lets the sun beat down on the back of her head, the waves of her hair leaving Cal in the shade.


End file.
